A New Mission on the Road

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Life Reimagined TODAY
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April 9, 2012 @ 3:43 pm
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Work Matters |
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Trudy Lundgren, one of “Your Life Calling’s” profiles, still lives life on the road, but with a new mission. She’s a breast cancer survivor, raising money for the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade by training for a marathon. The weekend of April 21 and 22, 2012, Trudy will participate in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Houston, TX. She will walk 39.2 miles that Saturday (almost a marathon and a half), and 13.1 the following Sunday. On March 11, 2012 she gave us a progress report, “I did 20 miles yesterday, and you wouldn’t believe the weirdness that goes on in my head after about 15 miles. Good thing I have an iPod, or I would drive myself crazy.”

Last spring, Trudy’s life was knocked off balance when she received the diagnosis of stage 2 breast cancer. In an update, she recounts her thoughts while undergoing biopsies for cancer, “I spent twenty minutes in the machine contemplating the possibility of cancer in both breasts, and I pretty much decided that if this comes back positive they’re both coming off.” Luckily this was not the case, but they did find it in her left breast and she had to receive a lumpectomy. She stayed positive and hopeful and after months of radiation treatments, Trudy became cancer-free and remains cancer-free today. She never lost her humor, even when she learned she couldn’t go swimming in last summer’s sweltering heat, “I can’t go swimming, for fear that the markings on my chest might fade. Good thing I can still drink beer!”

You may recall her reinvention story, which aired on the TODAY show at the beginning of our series. Once a graphic designer, she traded in her New York City apartment to live life out of a RV, with America’s parks as her backyard and taking various jobs as she traveled with former partner Lisa Wade. “Your Life Calling” has been receiving a series of updates from her since the interview with Jane Pauley.

Trudy is a life transformed, a breast cancer survivor, and better than ever. On her personal page, at the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer website, you can learn how to donate to Trudy’s cause. The money will help provide access to care, fund educational programs, and accelerate research into new treatments and potential cures for breast cancer. CLICK HERE to learn more.

This is a post from Connor Toomy, Promotions Coordinator and Web Writer with AARP’s Your Life Calling with Jane Pauley.